Accused Yahoo hacker to be handed over to US marshals

A Canadian man accused of carrying out devastating cyberattacks on Yahoo waved his right to an extradition hearing on Friday and will soon be handed over to US marshals.AFP | August 19, 2017, 16:02 IST

Ottawa: A Canadian man accused of carrying out devastating cyberattacks on Yahoo waved his right to an extradition hearing on Friday and will soon be handed over to US marshals.

Karim Baratov, 22, an immigrant from Kazakhstan, was arrested on a US warrant in March for alleged hacking, commercial espionage and related crimes.

A spokesman for his lawyer Amedeo DiCarlo said that Baratov wishes to expedite the case and address the charges.

"A court order is in place to have the marshals come up and pick up Karim," DiCarlo told reporters. "I don't know if it's today, tomorrow. It could be any day. There's usually a two-week allowance for that."

Friday's court hearing in Hamilton, Ontario, where Baratov signed the waiver, was "the last of the proceedings here in Canada and the rest will now continue with myself and (Karim's) US attorneys," DiCarlo said.

US authorities allege Russian intelligence agents hired Baratov and another hacker to carry out attacks on Yahoo from 2014 to 2016.

The data breach compromised 500 million Yahoo accounts and is one of the largest cyberattacks in history.

Targets included Russian and US government officials, cyber security, diplomatic and military personnel, journalists, companies and financial firms.

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